Tulsa firefighters to deliver smoke alarms to deaf, hard of hearing families Tuesday

TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa Fire Department (TFD) said that memories of a deadly fire which involved a child with disabilities prompted a firefighter to do as much as he could to prevent a similar tragedy.

TFD Lt. Jeremiah Mefford has been working to gather smoke detectors for families with deaf or hard of hearing children. TFD said in a statement Monday that Mefford and his crew from Station 14 will be delivering the special detectors to staff at Patrick Henry Elementary Tuesday.

“When the average person thinks of smoke detectors that will sound an alarm if there is a fire, they don’t take into account people who are deaf or have difficulty hearing,” Mefford said.

TFD said Mefford came up with the idea when he and his crew were volunteering to read books to the students at Patrick Henry Elementary. While there, they met a group of students who were in a class for hearing difficulties.

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“Providing traditional smoke detectors for citizens is part of what we call Community Risk Reduction and it is a top priority to Tulsa Fire,” Mefford said. “The department wanted to take this a step further and provide special detectors for those with hearing issues.”

Mefford worked with TFD Chief of Community Risk Reduction Ricky Powell, and they began to search their resources for equipment designed to help the hearing impaired. They found a source with the Oklahoma State Firefighters Association who helped provide some of the needed detectors.

The specialized devices work by producing a visible strobe light along with an audible alarm. This allows individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to realize the detector is alarming them a visible indicator. Other specialized devices are even equipped with a vibrating pad that can be placed under a pillow or bed which activates when the smoke alarm sounds.

“These detectors are somewhere around triple the cost of the average detector and we felt many families could not afford to place them in their homes,” Mefford added. “This is our way for the department to help keep families safe without them bearing the extra cost.”

While the efforts made so far, will make some families safer we still need help from the community. TFD’s smoke detector programs are completely donation driven. We are asking for community partnerships to replenish our supply in order to make Tulsa homes safer for everyone.